Which ebike is best to speed up commute, must be able to pedal at 30 km/h

[PaulW123]

I'm thinking of getting an ebike and have found loads of great advice on this site. I've just re-started occasionally cycling to work and am investigating upgrading to an ebike in the hope it will encourage me to use it more often.

My aim is to reduce travel time when I commute, and to be able to have an easy journey on days when I can't be bothered putting in much effort. I'm looking for something that I can pedal quickly (>25 km/h) when I feel like it, but can also get me to / keep me at 25 km/h on inclines or when I can't be bothered to put in the effort.

I currently use a fairly cheap gravel bike. The vast majority of the 10 mile commute is cycle path, some of which is quite rough (i.e. I don't fancy a road bike) but relatively flat. On the way home, the last section is a sustained mile long ascent averaging 5% that I can find tough at the end of the day. According to Strava, I can reach 30 km/h on some sections of the cycle path. The bike has 30/48T chainring and 11T-34T cassette (700c wheels). I spend most of my time in top gear on the commute and don't think I'd want a bike that had lower gearing than this.

Woosh gets a lot of good press here, and their Camino / Gran Camino looks great. However, I'm concerned its gearing will be too low at 40T/11T. Wisper also seem highly recommended, but it's trickier to find exact gearing on their website, though the 905 looks nice (but there might be better, cheaper alternatives).

Other points:
1. A rack for panniers is essential
2. Slight preference for straight handlebars rather than drops, though my current bike has drops.
3. Option to add a child seat would be a bonus.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I appreciate any help or advice.

 

[StuartsProjects]

Well for road legal UK use, the motor should stop giving assistance once you exceed 25kmph.

So if your looking for a eBike that 'I can pedal quickly (>25 km/h)' then most all of them will do that if you put in the effort when the motor stops providing assistance.

 

[Az.]

Problem with e-bikes is they are not so nice to pedal after they reach 25km/h.

Is conversion an option?

 

[Peter.Bridge]

If you wanted something quite lightweight and just want to use the motor for inclines, and with low resistance when you are not using the motor (and you are not too heavy) this seems a bit of a bargain

The Faro | Very Lightweight Electric Bikes from Woosh

The Faro: very lightweight road electric bike from Woosh with hydraulic brakes and in-frame 36V 8AH battery or 20AH external battery.

wooshbikes.co.uk

Not sure of the gearing

 

[matthewslack]

Pedalling at 30km/h is all very well on a lightweight bike using the drop bars. Once you are sitting upright with straight bars it becomes much harder aerodynamically, so I'd be tempted to put less weight on that part of your brief and instead concentrate on something that keeps you up at 25 most of the time.

 

[PaulW123]

Well for road legal UK use, the motor should stop giving assistance once you exceed 25kmph.

So if your looking for a eBike that 'I can pedal quickly (>25 km/h)' then most all of them will do that if you put in the effort when the motor stops providing assistance.

Thanks. UK road legal is essential for me. I meant one that would bring me up to and keep me at 25kph on electric, but could be pedals faster without elective assistance.

 

[PaulW123]

Thanks for all your replies, I truly appreciate your generosity and expertise.

@Az, I looked at conversio but don't think my current bike is great quality, plus it would be more time consuming and I'd have concerns about compatibility, so am not keen (though maybe a front wheel hub could be easy).

@Matthew, fair point. I've not experienced many different types of bike but will take that into account and might need to see if I can get some local test rides.

@Peter, I'd seen that but had been put off a bit by the small battery. I'll take another look as maybe its fine fit my use case.

 

[soundwave]

dongle

Badass eBikes Tuning für Bafang Bosch Brose Fazua Giant Kalkhoff Panasonic Pendix Shimano Specialized Yamaha Polini Bafang Sachs TQ

www.badassebikes.com

 

[saneagle]

If you know how to fix bikes, a conversion of your gravel bike would be a good option. with a conversion, you can buy the stuff to get exactly what you want.

 

[Az.]

I suggested conversion because if you go that way you would gain control over your bike in terms of design and future repairs. You might like to read this thread:

Warning; ebike batteries have short lives!

I bought an Orbea Gain with the ebikemotion X35 system. I didn't consider at that time that I would need to replace the battery at some point. The batteries last for 10 years+, yes? No! 3 years on and the battery is kaput! I've seen recently on a forum that the life of an ebike battery is...

www.pedelecs.co.uk

Whatever you choose, try to avoid proprietary systems if possible. You don't have to convert your own bike. There are plenty of good used and cheap bikes on Facebook and Ebay.

In theory your idea is really good. Use assistance up to 25km/h and then take over and cycle at 30km/h on your own... that is theory. In practice you are not going to like it. Added weight and motor drag will slow you down. You are not going to like it. 25km/h is fast enough.

 

[Peter.Bridge]

The other thing to mention is other members here have confirmed that the department of transport has stated that the 10% tolerance on speed limits applies to motor assist cut off. So, if you calibrate your speed via GPS, you could adjust your cut off to 27.5 km/h (assuming your display allows you to do this, either directly or by reducing the wheel size in the settings by 10%.)

 

[Peter.Bridge]

Another idea https://www.merlincycles.com/metroneer-eg-10-comp-gravel-e-bike-282643.html

And how to get into the advanced settings

Help! - Metroneer EG 1.0 Comp Gravel E-Bike

Has anyone any experience of the Metroneer EG 1.0 Comp Gravel E-Bike? I'm looking to buy my first drop bar gravel e-bike with a decent range and these seem to hit the mark £999 and a 360W battery, but I can't find any other information or reviews about them which makes me wary. Merlin who make...

www.pedelecs.co.uk

 

[matthewslack]

The other thing to mention is other members here have confirmed that the department of transport has stated that the 10% tolerance on speed limits applies to motor assist cut off. So, if you calibrate your speed via GPS, you could adjust your cut off to 27.5 km/h (assuming your display allows you to do this, either directly or by reducing the wheel size in the settings by 10%.)

In the as yet highly unlikely scenario of being checked, neither of these methods would be legally watertight.

The 10% allows for imperfect accuracy in the equipment, not deliberately incorrect parameter settings.

 

[guerney]

My bike can do it all, plus it folds for public transport, and hauls heavy trailers up steep hills. If you want to pedal faster than the 25kph cutoff, deffo make sure your motor doesn't have vicious drag - my 34V BBS01B cadence sensored mid-drive does, but despite this when the roads are not too congested and I want to get home fast, I pedal beyond the cutoff, but it's hell and I can't keep it up for long. However, I am becoming stronger and can sustain over 18mph/28.97kph for longer periods of time (max so far is a little over 19mph/30.58kph), but deffo not for five freaking miles. As for 25kph hill climbs - easy peasy for the right bike and rider combination. A large capacity battery will mean less voltage sag when climbing hills. The current limit of my BBS01B controller is 20A, and my converted old Dahon 20" wheeled bike can climb most hills up to cutoff speed with absolute ease, despite my not being a fit or strong cyclist. Not young either. I was only using 18.4A in the vid below (my Level 8), and at least one part of this climb is 10.2%, not that I noticed. Muwahaha, MUWAHAHAHAHA!

p.s. Take that hubsters!

 

[StuartsProjects]

The other thing to mention is other members here have confirmed that the department of transport has stated that the 10% tolerance on speed limits applies to motor assist cut off. So, if you calibrate your speed via GPS, you could adjust your cut off to 27.5 km/h (assuming your display allows you to do this, either directly or by reducing the wheel size in the settings by 10%.)

Whilst the 'guidelines' are that you wont be prosecuted unless you exceed the legal limit +10%, I doubt they are saying that you can never be prosecuted for exceeding the legal limit.

Say you have an accident and the Police actually check your bike and see that you have set the cutoff to 27.5kmph. That would appear to be evidence that you actually planned to exceed the legal limit, which is very different to a 'oops' moment.

Maybe there needs to be test case, someone needs to risk their driving license to see what might happen, any volunteers ?

 

[saneagle]

Whilst the 'guidelines' are that you wont be prosecuted unless you exceed the legal limit +10%, I doubt they are saying that you can never be prosecuted for exceeding the legal limit.

Say you have an accident and the Police actually check your bike and see that you have set the cutoff to 27.5kmph. That would appear to be evidence that you actually planned to exceed the legal limit, which is very different to a 'oops' moment.

Maybe there needs to be test case, someone needs to risk their driving license to see what might happen, any volunteers ?

You have a very strong defence against that. The device itself has no accuracy certificate. You can say that you checked it with GPS and it was reading high. 27.5 km/h shown is 25 km/h actual speed.

In case you don't know, just about all car speedometers read 3 to 5 mph fast.

If you have a KT controller, you can calibrate the LCD to show your exact real speed, or you can calibrate it to show a speed 10% lower than your actual speed: Problem solved!

 

[matthewslack]

More of a blag than a defence!

In the exceptionally unlikely event of such a case being brought, the probably unprovable lie about the GPS would probably count as perverting the course of justice.

 

[Peter.Bridge]

Changes to Regulations - Speed pedelecs / dongles / throttles

Is there a post elsewhere on Pedelecs covering this: proposed changes to e-bike regulations

www.pedelecs.co.uk

 

[saneagle]

probably count as perverting the course of justice.

Nonsense.

 

[flecc]

The 10% allows for imperfect accuracy in the equipment, not deliberately incorrect parameter settings.

But the rider is part of the setting equipment so the allowance is also for their imperfection.
.